In 1870 Prussian gun founder Alfred Krup refused to divert an order of artillery for use in the national war effort against to France until he recevied permission from his original customer, the Tsar.

While participating in the international neutrality patrol during the Spanish Civil War it was not unusual for the officers and sailors from the participating navies– Britain, the U.S., France, Italy, and Germany – to pay calls on each other, American ships being particularly popular because they often showed the latest films, a courtesy which the visitors could repayed by illicitly providing beer, wine, and other potables prohibited by Uncle Sam’s blue-nosed liquor regulations.

One reason the British underestimated American military prowess during the Revolutionary War is that two of the most prominent Patriot generals were by trade a bookseller (Henry Knox) and a blacksmith (Nathanael Greene).

On the frigid morning of 23 Jan 1795 a Lt. Col. Lahure of the French Army, led a squadron of hussars, with a company of infantry riding double, across thick sea ice at the Texel in Holland to successfully capture the entire Dutch Navy.

In the course of World War I there were 340,000 courts martial in the Italian Army, roughly one for every 12 men who had served at the front.

The first man ashore during the American landings near Vera Cruz, Mexico, on March 9, 1847, was Maj. Gen. William Worth, who leaped from his “landing craft” in full uniform, with sword in hand, to who waded through waist-high surf.

During World War II, about 38-percent of white men were rejected for military service by reason of physical defect, and almost 58-percent of black men.